The Next Day
by HebrewPrincess91
Summary: Days in the Wilderness series. Kanan has left his Jedi life behind him. He has a new identity, and only one goal: stay alive. However, even though Kanan has divorced himself from his Jedi roots, those same roots may be the only thing that can keep him alive when his ship is attacked by so-called pirates with a hidden agenda. Set before Star Wars: Rebels. Two-shot. Canon compliant.
1. ONLY TODAY

_A Jedi has restraint._

Kanan had been living one day at a time for a lot of days now. Since _that_ day, every day was no longer a given. A new day meant new dangers around unexpected corners. He had to stay in control, stay hidden, and stay smart. One slip up would lose him everything. His life was the only thing he had left, and he wasn't about to throw it away because he lost control.

Nose to the grindstone, keep up the pace, day in and day out, never stay anywhere long. It had taken him awhile, but by now he was used to it.

"We're heading into pirate space, so keep your guard up."

Kanan nodded, mentally preparing himself. He was acting as a part of a private security force tasked with protecting a freighter shipment from pirate attacks. He was only hanging around until the next paycheck, after that he was off again. If you stayed in one place too long, people started to suspect things.

He and the other four on the freighter ship hung tight. Since Kanan had been with them they had only had one brief skirmish with pirates, but this area of the galaxy was fraught, and slow freighters were a favorite target.

"Is it really worth the effort to steal freighters full of this and that all the time?" asked one of the other guards. He went by the name Kace and was even newer to the job than Kanan. "Do they really make any money off of replacement widgets and ball bearings?"

Another of the guards, Jenna, shrugged as she double-checked her weapon. "They must have some profit from all of this, or else they wouldn't bother."

Kanan turned his blaster over in his hands, frowning at it just a little. He was used to the weapon now, but every now and again he would have a surreal moment where he couldn't believe that he was here, hiding, lying about his entire identity. He pushed away thoughts of the life before. He knew how dangerous an unchecked thought could be.

Glancing up at his comrades he forced a light grin and said, "Maybe we'll get lucky this time and see a little action."

"You would want that, wouldn't you Jarrus," said the commander. She was a tough woman with a strong moral compass. She actually made working this job a little more bearable, as long as you didn't try to slide anything past her.

Kanan leaned against the wall. "I'm just saying that it feels like we're the real cargo on this ship. Being endlessly transported from one place to another."

"You'd just better hope that you don't jinx us, or that could be the last spot of action you ever see." The commander gave him a stern-yet-playful look.

Kanan shrugged. "I guess I'm just looking to live life on the wild side."

Of course, the opposite was true. He played every decision as safe as he could. He left nothing to chance, or to the Force. He trusted his own wits and nothing else. People saw him as a drifter with a knack for danger, people could be easily fooled.

Jenna finished checking her blaster. "Well, if Kanan is so eager for action, I say he goes first in the event we are boarded by pirates." She caught his eye, an eyebrow raised in challenge.

Kanan smirked and said with mock-sincerity. "But, Jenna, you're so good at this. You must have been in a hundred battles, you'll have to go first and show me how it's done."

Jenna opened her mouth to respond, but the commander cut her off. "The two of you stop flirting, we need everyone to be paying attention. An attack could happen at any minute."

The group settled down again. The commander went to the cockpit to confer with the pilot. After she left there was a long moment of silence. As the silence lengthened it almost felt alive. Kanan felt as though there was something important teasing around the edge of his consciousness. He felt like something was about to happen.

Out of habit, almost instinctively, he closed his eyes and let out a breath to open himself to the Force. A second later he opened his eyes and inhaled, pushing away the Force he had almost reached for. The Force was a danger to him now. He couldn't go there.

Pushing down his feelings of premonition, he told himself that it was only normal anxiety, just like everyone had from time to time. He focused once more on his blaster, rubbing his thumb down the grip and across the serial number like he had so many times before. This was now, and now he was Kanan, and Kanan wasn't a Jedi.

The ship lurched to a halt as it dropped out of hyperspace to recalculate for it's next jump. It would take a few minutes which made the ship extremely vulnerable while the coordinates were double-checked. The ship was old and the computers had apparently not been updated for a few decades. Kanan felt his stomach clench, but ignored it. Nothing would happen, and if it did, he didn't know about it beforehand. He clenched his weapon in his fist and exhaled.

Glancing up he caught Kace's eye across the room. "Any big plans for when we get into port? I hear that Trapp City has great food and even better women."

Kace mused for a minute, then said, "I suppose I'll check out the food and see about the girls if I have anything left over."

He may be new, Kanan thought, but he's not a shiny. A second later he mentally upbraided himself for thinking of someone as a shiny, then pushed that from his mind too. He just had to stay distracted until they were underway again.

"You guys are so predictable." Jenna rolled her eyes. "It's always ends up being about booze and babes."

Kanan gave her his most charming smile. "And what do you look forward to when you get into port? Last I heard you've left a string of broken hearts across the galaxy as you work your way through meat and man-flesh."

Jenna smirked a little, Kanan liked the way her lip quirked up on one side when she did so. "And what if I have, I, at least, have the decency to not brag about it like a schoolboy who's desperate to impress his classmates."

"No, you brag about it like a schoolgirl who is desperate to make me jealous, which is not working, by the way." Kanan winked as she glared at him.

"Guys," said Kace, "play nice, we still have a long way to go on this ship."

Jenna responded to Kace, though she kept her eyes on Kanan, "I'm sure no one would be terribly bothered if Kanan was blown out the airlock, by accident, of course."

"Of course," Kanan echoed.

Suddenly, he ducked, then he was knocked to the floor as something impacted the hull of the ship. The others were tossed around too as the hull was impacted again and again.

The commander came flying into the room and said the three most obvious words that day, "We're under attack!"

Kanan rolled to his feet, and he and the others began making their way to the airlock, which was situated at the end of the corridor just outside the so-called squad room. If they were going to be boarded the pirates would have to enter through there. Their freighter was large enough that towing wasn't going to be an option for any but the largest of ships. They would have to be boarded.

Kanan took his place behind one of the ribs that projected into the hallway between the airlock and the corridor that led to the rest of the ship, it would provide some protection while giving him a clear shot to the airlock. Being only a so-so type of security company, they had only ever practiced this strategy a couple of times, and Kanan wasn't sure that Kace had ever been run through it. Things were about to get dicey.

The ship rocked too and fro as it tried to free itself from it's attackers. Kanan felt the hull shudder as it was smote repeatedly by the pirates.

"They must have some kind of hull-cracker," said the commander from behind her own rib. Hull-crackers could batter ships of all sizes into powder if given enough time, and they weren't terribly common. Generally, they only in use by a military or demolition company. It seemed, however, that the pirates had stolen one of them too.

Kanan gritted his teeth. He could feel the ship trying to get away, but the pirates were relentless. Then, he heard the sound of a ship connecting to the airlock. Swallowing, he leaned back against the wall. He could hear the sound of a lock breaker beginning to work on the door.

He forced himself to stay put. He wanted to see what was happening and be able to jump into the fray, he wanted to reach for the Force and sense how many people were out there and use it to protect his ship, he wanted to be holding a lightsaber in his hands instead of a second-hand blaster. He swallowed those feelings and focused his attention on the present. Right now, he only had to avoid getting killed.

The door gave way. Sparks flew into the hall and skittered across the floor. Kanan leaned out from behind the ship's rib and laid down a spray of cover fire. He quickly ducked back under his cover as a more aggressive spray was aimed at him and the rest of the security crew. Kanan remained calm, after living through the Clone Wars he no longer had any trouble staying level headed in the heat of battle.

He tried to remember how many pirates he had seen during his brief foray into the open hall. There was a tall one, a muscled one, one with long hair, one with scaly horns, and one at the back he hadn't seen properly. Altogether, five. One to one odds weren't that bad.

Darting back into the hall, Kanan fired again, this time with more precision. The rest of the squad also peppered the pirates with blaster fire. If the pirates could be bottlenecked at the airlock the ship might still be able to get away.

The blasts pelted into the pirates. As he returned to the safety of his rib Kanan saw the tall one in the lead as he was struck and fell against the wall. The next one, the one with long hair, returned fire. Kanan heard one of the squad scream and fall to the floor. Kanan didn't let himself think about who it was or if they were alive. His only focus was on getting away from these pirates with his life intact.

Another round of blasts was traded between the two sides. Kanan again leaned out just far enough to fire on the pirates. Another pirate dropped to the floor while a furious salvo of laser bolts slammed into the rib he was using as a shield. Sparks rained down on Kanan as he ducked, trying to protect his head.

"Out of the way," barked one of the pirates, and Kanan heard a frantic shuffling taking place near the airlock. A spark of intuition pestered his consciousness, he willfully drowned that spark and stayed put behind his rib. An instant later as small metal orb skittered down the hallway. Kanan only had half a second to register that it was some kind of bomb before it went off.


	2. ONLY TOMORROW

_A Jedi has control._

Kanan was dizzy. He opened his eyes and that didn't really make it any better. He was laying on the floor of a cell that, from the sounds of it, was on a ship. The bomb must have been a stun grenade, and since he wasn't dead that must mean he was a captive on the pirate ship. Peachy.

Sitting up, he surveyed the cell. The two other men in his security squad were in here with him. They, too, were sitting up and squinting around. All of them were accessorized with binder-cuffs that kept their hands firmly bound in front of them.

"What'd we get ourselves into?" Kace asked in the semi-darkness. The only light came from a couple of recessed panels in the ceiling.

"Where are the girls?" asked the other squad member, his name was Levin.

Kanan looked around the room a second time and realized the female members of the squad weren't there. It struck him as odd and created a new worry. He tried not to think about it, he couldn't do anything to help them if they were in trouble, so there was no point in even thinking about them.

"Jenna was shot on the ship," said Kace, "I don't know how bad it was."

Kanan clenched his teeth and he felt a surprising amount of sorrow at the thought of her death. He hadn't known her for that long, but he had connected with her more strongly than he had connected with anyone in quite a while.

I just have to make it out of this, Kanan reminded himself, if I come out in one piece, that's all that matters.

The dizziness was starting to wear off. It had been a long time since he'd been that close to one of the so called droid-popper shock grenades. Usually he was on the side that was throwing them, they had worked really well against the battle droids. Getting his feet under him, he slowly rose. He didn't want to move too fast while he was still orienting himself to his new surroundings. Levin and Kace were getting to their feet as well, they seemed no worse for the wear after the battle.

Kanan gingerly walked to one of the pools of meager light produced in the room and inspected his binder cuffs. They were a generic type of cuff, a type that a Jedi might easily remove with the Force. Kanan had never been so tempted to use the Force before, this might be a matter of life and death for him. He glanced at the others who were also investigating their bonds, Levin was trying to wriggle his hands out of the cuff without much luck, while Kace was twisting his wrists back and forth trying to loosen them to no avail.

Kanan looked down at his wrists again. It would be the work of a moment. Hadn't he done things like this all the time when he was a padawan? It would be easy, and he could always claim that they hadn't been properly fastened if his cellmates asked any questions. Kanan bit his lip as his eyes darted around the room again. They weren't paying attention, it was life or death, now or never.

The door to the cell opened. Framed in the doorway was one the pirates they had skirmished with earlier. This pirate was the one that Kanan hadn't really been able to see properly during the battle. Now, even in the dim lighting, Kanan saw a caped, armor-clad man holding a sturdy looking blaster in his hands.

Kanan suddenly had a bad feeling about this.

"Alright, prisoners," the armor-clad man spoke to them as the cell door slid shut behind him, his voice was somewhat distorted by his helmet, "I have a riddle to solve and only you three can help me solve it."

"Where are the others?" Kace couldn't hold back.

"You three were the only ones I needed."

Kanan, Levin, and Kace all exchanged glances.

"Actually, I'm only looking for one of you, but I don't know which one. If you are cooperative, I release the two of you that I don't want, if you are not cooperative, all three of you will find yourselves in the deepest darkest prison in the Empire."

"Are you working for the Empire?" Levin asked. Kanan could see that he was getting more scared by the minute. Normally, pirates only took prisoners when they intended to ransom them, this situation was suddenly a lot more complicated.

"After a fashion. I'm a bounty hunter and the Empire pays very well for prisoners of a certain kind." The bounty hunter appeared to be scrutinizing the three of them.

Kanan felt cold. Their ship hadn't been attacked by pirates trying to steal their freight, it had been attacked by bounty hunters trying to collect their blood-money.

"What would the Empire want with any of us?" asked Kace, "we're just security for a shipping company."

"One of you," said the bounty hunter as he turned his head and seemed to look directly at Kanan, "is a Jedi."

Kanan tried to look surprised like the others, but he wasn't sure how well he pulled it off. He felt as though his heart was beating louder than it had a moment before.

"A Jedi?" Kanan repeated, trying his best to sound incredulous, "I thought all the Jedi were dead." If he could just convince this bounty hunter that no one here could possibly be a Jedi they might have a chance after all. He just had to play dumb and keep his cool. He couldn't afford to be rattled by this.

The bounty hunter began circling the three prisoners. Kanan consciously stayed put and looked confused like the other two, he had to keep it together.

The bounty hunter seized Kace from behind, pulling him away from the other two and kicking the back of his knee so that he fell to the ground in a kneeling position. Putting his blaster to Kace's head he said, "Tell me which of you is the Jedi, or this man dies right now."

Kanan's heart skipped a beat. Cold sweat prickled over his skin.

"You've got to be crazy," Levin said, "no one here is a Jedi, the Jedi are all dead."

The bounty hunter ignored Levin. "One."

Kanan didn't want to know how high he was intending to count. He frantically scrambled for any kind of plan that might get all three of them out of this alive.

"Two."

Kace was beginning to tremble with fear. He may have been a tough guy, but even tough guys could fear for their lives, Kanan knew that all too well.

The bounty hunter tapped the back of Kace's head with the muzzle of his blaster. Kace was visibly trying to control his emotions, Kace didn't have to say a thing for Kanan to know exactly what was going through his head. Levin just stood there, mouth slightly open, unbelieving of this turn of events. It was as though a deadly serious man was demanding that one of them out themselves as a secret fossil.

Kanan was drawing a blank, he didn't know what to do or say. He didn't have a way out. His eyes darted from Kace to Levin to the helmeted figure about to blow a hole in Kace's head.

"Three-"

"It's me." Kanan croaked out the words. Heat collected under his collar despite him feeling cold all over.

The other three looked at him.

"You're a-" Kace started.

"Don't be stup-" Levin cut in.

"Perfect." The bounty hunter kicked Kace to the floor and pointed his blaster at Kanan's chest. "On the floor, Jedi, or I waste you right now."

It seemed his options were to either die now at the hands of this bounty hunter, or die later at the hands of the Empire. However, Kanan thought he might have a third option.

Kanan knelt to the floor and closed his eyes. He inhaled deeply and for the first time in a very long time, Kanan purposely opened himself to the Force. A flood of sensation washed over him, it was like taking in a breath of clean, fresh air. It was almost a heady sensation.

The bounty hunter stepped over Kace and approached him, blaster at the ready. At a cue from the Force, Kanan acted. Throwing himself into a roll, he crashed into the bounty hunter's legs, knocking him over and sending the both of them into a tangle. Kace and Levin crowded against the wall, seemingly the only ones who had realized that the bounty hunter wore a jetpack and a rocket.

Kanan struggled against the armored man. He thought he was doing pretty well, considering the fact that his hands were bound and he wasn't wearing any type of protective gear. He managed to get a hold of the blaster, even though the bounty hunter was also still clinging to it as well. The bounty hunter was quite scrappy, twisting and rolling, trying to get some advantage over Kanan while keeping a hold of his weapon. Kanan, however, knew a few things about fighting _mono a mono_ that had nothing to do with his Jedi training.

Kanan kept his opponent off-balance. He kept moving and kept as close as he could so that the bounty hunter wouldn't be able to have a moment to collect himself. They were both focused on the blaster and both of them knew that whoever got it would win this confrontation.

The bounty hunter began butting his head against Kanan's in an effort to stun him long enough to gain the upper hand. Kanan avoided the blows as best he could, but the bounty hunter was too close. Releasing the bounty hunter and the blaster, Kanan tumbled away and rolled to his feet.

The bounty hunter also jumped to his feet, blaster aimed directly at Kanan's head. Kanan ducked just a millisecond before the bounty hunter fired. The shot slammed into the wall behind him as Kanan flung his hands out in front of him, pushing the bounty hunter as hard as he could with the Force.

The bounty hunter crashed into the wall. His helmet was knocked askew as his blaster clattered to the floor. Levin pounced on the blaster, and flicking it to stun, he blasted the bounty hunter before he had a chance to right himself.

Levin and Kace looked at Kanan, their eyes wide. Kanan wasn't sure what they were thinking, he didn't know what to expect from them.

"You're a Jedi?" Levin asked it like it was a question, but it was really just a statement.

"No," said Kanan, "I'm not a Jedi and I never was."

"It's your fault we were attacked." Kace's voice was scathing.

"Guys," Kanan knew it was over, "can we talk about this later, I'd like to get out of here." He could see their suspicion. The Jedi had tried to run a coup on the government, everyone knew that, and now he was no longer go-lucky Kanan, he was a militant who may even yet be machinating to plunge the galaxy into another war.

Kace and Levin both eyed him warily.

"Get the keys," said Levin.

Kace bent over the bounty hunter and began rifling through his pockets. Neither of them turned their backs to him, and Levin kept the blaster pointed in his general direction. Kace found the keys to the binders and in a short moment he and Levin were free from their cuffs. Kanan stood still where he was, feeling the surreality of having people he had borne arms with turn on him yet again. All because he was a Jedi.

"So what now, are you going to shoot me?" Kanan really hoped the answer wasn't going to be yes.

"No," said Levin, "you can stay here with the bounty hunter. You're the Empire's problem now."

Levin took the bounty hunter's comm and signaled to the other bounty hunters.

"What's up?" the voice crackled over the comm.

"I'm done here." Levin did his best imitation of the bounty hunter, and Kanan had to admit it was pretty good.

Kace had found a small hold-out blaster on the bounty hunter, so the both of them were ready when the cell door was opened. The surprise attack worked wonders and Levin and Kace rushed out of the cell. If Kanan had any hope that they might change their minds about him, those hopes were crushed as the cell door once again slid closed. He was on his own. Again.

But that meant that he didn't have to think about anything other than himself. He turned to the bounty hunter, he would probably be waking up soon enough so it was time to act. Using the Force, he released the lock on his cuffs and had his hands free once more.

Crossing the room he knelt next to the bounty hunter and began stripping him of his armor. He properly removed the man's helmet and was just beginning on the breast plate when he got a good look at the man's features. If Kanan could have fallen down in shock, he would have. Of all the unexpected things that had happened to him since the attack on the ship, it was finding out that the bounty hunter was also a clone that took him most off guard. A deep kind of hurt and anger welled up inside of him as he gazed on the bounty hunter's unconscious face.

Kanan didn't even know why or how a clone had become a bounty hunter. A dark thought flickered into his mind, no one would know if the clone died here, but just as quickly Kanan dismissed the notion. It wasn't right, it wasn't the Jedi way. He may have disavowed his former self, but he couldn't bring himself to be rid of it entirely. Just like the lightsaber he kept disassembled and hidden in his boot he had disassembled his Jedi identity, but it was still there, hiding in pieces.

Tearing his eyes away from the clone's face he finished stripping him. Cuffing the clone, he put on the clone's jumpsuit and armor. The armor took Kanan a minute to figure out, but after a moment he had everything on the right way round. Last of all, he put on the clone's helmet.

Leaning against the door, Kanan listened for the sound of the other bounty hunters. The hallway seemed to be all quiet. Using the Force, Kanan slid open the cell door and slipped into the hall, looking to the world like the bounty hunter. Kanan let the cell door slide closed behind him and strode down the hall in the most confident way he could muster.

The ship was actually rather large, Kanan half wondered where Kace and Levin had gotten themselves too. He quickly decided that he didn't care, all he had to do was get out alive. Quickly getting lost, Kanan went through a few halls and levels before he found what he was looking for, a way out.

The ship had a small docking bay on board, and had a number of one and two person spaceships that Kanan guessed were used in various raids. One of them was going to be his ride to freedom.

There were a number of bounty hunters milling about, the ship was in hyperspace and they seemed to be waiting for their cue to take action. Kanan took a deep breath, then walked out to a man who was pushing a ladder up to the closest ship.

Tapping him roughly, Kanan said, "I'm taking this one."

The man scowled. "In your dreams, Fett, this one's mine."

"I'm not kidding, leave it now, and I won't have to kill you." Kanan hoped this sounded anything at all like the way the clone spoke.

The man didn't seem to be buying it. "You want to solve this one-on-one? Fine then."

"Fine," said Kanan. He hoped this guy wasn't too good of a fighter.

The other man jerked his head towards a stack of pallets in the corner of the hangar, and Kanan followed him behind the stack. Moments later, Kanan emerged, this time wearing the other guy's flight suit. The young clone would be discovered missing soon enough, if he hadn't been already, this guy would probably take a while to discover.

Putting on the pilot's helmet, Kanan climbed into the cockpit and strapped himself in, it seemed that he needn't have bothered with the outfit change as the other ships were starting up. He started his own ship and not a moment too soon. The ship dropped out of hyperspace, and the radio in every ship blared out the go signal. Seven in total, the ships in the hangar began lifting off, with Kanan trailing in the rear.

Once out of the hangar, Kanan saw that these ships were leading some kind of assault on a freighter that seemed to have it's own fighters for protection. Kanan hung back while the other six charged forward to engage the freighter and it's protection detail. As the ships engaged with each other, Kanan turned his tail on them. This wasn't his fight any longer. He needed to move on.

Engaging his hyperdrive, he ignored the yelling that was coming over his comm demanding that he engage with the fighters at once. Kanan switched off the comm and punched in the coordinates for the first place he could think of off the top of his head. Behind him, two of the other pirate fighter ships had peeled off of their assault and were bearing down on him.

"Time to get going," he said to himself, "as long as I make it to the next day, that's all that counts."

Pulling back on the hyperspace lever, his stolen ship jumped to light speed and disappeared.


End file.
